The Ford Focus, one of Europe's most popular cars, reached another milestone today when the 100,000th Focus produced in Russia, a tango red wagon with 1.8 l diesel engine, rolled off the assembly line at Ford's assembly plant in St.Petersburg.

The St. Petersburg plant is Ford's newest manufacturing site for the Ford Focus, the top-selling vehicle for the Ford brand in Europe. It is also the only Ford plant in the world that builds the Focus in all four body styles: in 3 door, 4 door, 5 door and wagon versions. The plant has the capacity to build 60,000 units in 2006. Production of the Focus began in Russia in July 2002 with official launch of the plant.

Ford's sales volume in Russia reached more than 60,000 vehicles in 2005, an increase of 65 per cent over the previous year when 40,000 vehicles were sold. During the first quarter of 2006, Ford sales in Russia reached 16,000 vehicles, 7,300 units or 85 per cent more than last year. The Ford Focus has been the best selling car model among non-Russian brands every year since 2003.

Focus, which had European sales of 442, 000 units in 2005, is also produced at assembly plants in Valencia, Spain and Saarlouis, Germany. Production sites for the car outside of Europe include the U.S., China, Taiwan, Philippines and South Africa. More than five million Focus cars have been sold worldwide, with banner years in 2000 and 2001, when the Focus achieved the status of being the best-selling car in the world.